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Blue dots in a red sea: Utah Democrats look for a way forward
Nearly 600 of the 2,343 delegates from the state participated in person at the Utah Democratic Convention held in Ogden on Saturday, casting their votes for new party leadership with the aim of forming a united front against the dominant Republicans in the state. Winning 52% of the record-breaking 1,450 votes cast by both in-person and remote delegates, Brian King won as the new face of the Utah Democratic Party. He told the Deseret News he's going to work to unify the party in the Beehive State. That means the 'very progressive on the left end of the spectrum' and the 'moderates and pragmatists and independents and unaffiliated voters and disillusioned Republicans,' he said. 'It is not either or. It is both.' 'An effective party and an effective party leadership has to be able to have things to say to both groups and everybody in between that causes them to say, 'OK, I feel good about being a Democrat,'' King added. Before the votes were cast, Jeremy Thompson, chair of the Weber County Democratic Party Executive Committee, said that it'll be the responsibility of the state party leaders to turn 'Utah from blue dots to an ocean of progressive success.' In his opening remarks, Thompson said the United States is fighting 'the same challenges' that citizens during the civil rights era were going through, with Donald Trump as president for the next four years. The convention came at a time when many local and national Democrats are wondering if the party can overcome its internal battles to even have a fighting chance against Republican power on the state and federal level. DNC party chair candidate Archie A. Williams said Democrats' losses stem from the party being outnumbered by Republicans and then worsened by a lack of unification. 'We can't afford to boycott elections when we're losing. We have to work together now,' he said. A self-described 'pro-life Democrat,' Williams said if you want a Democrat to win in Utah, you're going to have to pick a pro-life candidate. Many in the crowd began to boo his comment, but Williams responded by saying he's simply sharing 'how to win.' But not every Democrat believes trying to appeal to socially conservative voters is the best tactic. Ken Charette, vice chair of House District 34 and supporter of King's closest competitor, Ben Peck, told the Deseret News that he doesn't think trying to change the party's message on social issues is the right approach. 'I don't think that's what we need right now. I think we need somebody that isn't afraid to say, 'I'm a Democrat and I support LGBTQ people. I support reproductive rights.'' Peck ultimately lost to King after winning 48% of the votes. 'We need to not move ourselves more to the middle to be appeasing everyone, because people can tell when we are speaking out of both sides of our mouth,' Charette said, pointing out that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 'Fighting Oligarchy Tour' with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, brought in 20,000 Utahns 'and their message isn't moderated.' Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who was supposed to be a guest speaker but ended up canceling last minute, said in a short video message that Utah Democrats 'know a thing or two about showing up to the fight.' 'You know how to stand up against the odds and get things done,' Pritzker said. Now, as chair, King said the Utah Democrats voted for someone 'that they want to stand up and speak truth to power.' 'I want the people in this room to know that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to not hesitate to stand up and speak truth,' he said. Following his win he said in a post on social media that he's ready for the role. Here are the newly elected officers: Brian King, Chair Susan Merrill, Vice Chair Brad Dickter, Secretary Catherine Voutaz, Treasurer
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a day ago
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Still vexed — an overview of anxiety and depression
In 2018, the Deseret News published a series called Generation Vexed, exploring and detailing the then-growing scope of teenage anxiety in the United States. It was already well on the rise even before the pandemic, the land wars that broke out in the Middle East and Europe, and the political schism of the 2020 election. Approximately 1 million teenagers struggled with anxiety, and experts at the time estimated that nearly 1 in 4 had some form of an anxiety disorder, with that ratio going up to nearly 1 in 3 when just girls were considered. Census data from 2015 'estimated more than 17 million (children) had already experienced a diagnosable mental disorder,' the Deseret News reported. That number was 'the equivalent of the entire populations of Utah, Idaho, Arizona and Colorado' combined. That was just teenagers, and just the disorder of anxiety — and that was seven years ago. Anxiety is still rising. From 2018 through the first two years of the pandemic in 2022, anxiety rates for all Americans went up by over 16%, and depression rates by over 15%. In 2023, the American Psychiatric Association said that more than a third of all adults felt more anxious than they did the year before. Then, when it did the same study last year, the number of adults reporting that they felt more anxiety jumped to 43%. For perhaps a brief moment, 2023's number seemed small by comparison. Today, the National Institute of Mental Health reports that some 40 million Americans have anxiety disorders — nearly one-fifth of the total U.S. population — and more than 14 million suffer from depression. That is another mental health disorder that has steadily been rising, with 29% of all Americans experiencing depression, according to Gallup, up from 19% eight years earlier. Now, the NIH research suggests that 21 million people in the U.S. will experience a depressive episode in their lifetimes. Mental Health America, a nonprofit dedicated to mental health and prevention, published a report that says 46% of Americans will at some point confront a mental-health-related disorder. Those numbers, while shocking, are not as surprising to encounter in 2025 as they may have been even a few years ago. That's because, while there are more people experiencing disorders such as anxiety and depression, general awareness of broader mental health issues has risen, too. According to Michele Nealon, a psychologist and president of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, writing for the United Nations in 2021, the pandemic 'accelerated positive momentum in our communities to raise awareness about these issues and increased accessibility to crucial support and services for those affected.' Talking about mental health — interpersonally, on the news, social media or via the numerous celebrities who often show support (including Michelle Obama, Demi Lovato, Simone Biles, Prince Harry and Dwayne Johnson) — has become so common that the cause and effect of anxiety and depression are beginning to look like the chicken and the egg question to some, too. The BBC reported earlier this year that experts in England are now openly debating if the proliferation of awareness has actually caused more young people to self-diagnose, which results in 'over-pathologising distress.' The argument is that, rather than learning resilience, some are diagnosing what might be the normal discomfort of growing up as anxiety or depression. Regardless of the possible pitfalls, the pandemic had one recognizable silver lining, Nealon wrote: it 'resulted in more open dialogue on, and greater knowledge of, mental health than ever before.' This is not to say that stigma no longer exists; it does. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a webpage that was updated in January of 2025, explaining and contextualizing the ways people with mental health disorders are made to feel stigma — the negative sentiment, shame or disgrace leveled onto an action or behavior. It included structural stigma, where institutions are not prepared to support those with them; public stigma that comes from individuals and groups judgmental toward mental health issues; and even self-stigma, where someone with a mental health issue 'may believe they are flawed or blame themselves for having the condition.' All of which is why experts say it's so important to keep talking about the resources that exist for people who are experiencing anxiety and depression. Not just in order to combat the stigma that individuals, communities, cultures and organizations may have, but also the sheer volume of those who are already experiencing anxiety and depression and need to know how and where to find help for a legitimate and pressing health concern. There are resources that exist, and — as always — much more to learn. It's a topic that's been investigated, it turns out, since the days of ancient Greece and Rome. The first known medical reference to mental health disorders like anxiety or depression is within the texts attributed to Hippocrates from ancient Greece. They describe a subject named Nicanor who's stricken with an irrational fear — a phobia — of the woman who plays the flute at the symposium. Hearing the music played at night, Nicanor would have panic attacks, yet he was unaffected when he encountered the same flutist during the day. Its inclusion by one of modern medicine's founders made clear that mental disorders had long been considered health issues. Ancient Roman thinkers investigated the variations of mental disorders more specifically. It was Cicero, the Roman statesman and stoic philosopher, who carved out the notion of anxiety and depression — separately — and sought to solve them. 'In some there is a continual anxiety, owing to which they are anxious … for all are not anxious who are sometimes vexed, nor are they who are anxious always uneasy in that manner,' he wrote in 45 B.C. According to Marc-Antoine Crocq, a psychiatrist, who wrote 'A history of anxiety: from Hippocrates to DSM' in the scientific journal Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, Cicero's arguments come from a book written after his daughter's untimely death and was 'a plea for Stoicism, a branch of philosophy that is one of the pillars of today's cognitive therapy.' Kathleen Evans, of Griffin University in Australia, suggested that Cicero's whole book was indicative of a 'major depressive episode' for the great ancient philosopher. His work may have been a means for him to navigate the struggles of his own life. Another stoic called Seneca, wrote Crocq, 'taught his contemporaries how to achieve freedom from anxiety in his book 'Of Peace of Mind.'' Later, Seneca suggested in another of his treatises that people should stay present in their day-to-day lives, previewing thousands of years ago what is now commonly referred to as 'living in the moment.' Depression was long called by the other name of 'melancholia,' especially so during the period between the late 1700s and the late 1800s. It was defined as 'a disorder of intellect or judgment, a 'partial insanity' often, but not always, associated with sadness,' wrote Kenneth S. Kendler, of Virginia Commonwealth University. He wrote that it was a 'mood disorder.' That name, itself, helps to understand why there is some lasting stigma felt today by folks whose lives and work are disrupted by their depression as if it is a matter of mood, rather than a debilitating health disorder. Not until the German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin began using the word 'depressive' to describe elements of 'melancholia' in the late 1900s did its name change to what we know today. That definition and symptoms have changed, too. While it is common for people to feel sad or low in the course of their days, depression manifests itself with more pronounced symptoms, some of which include feeling down, empty, pessimistic or hopeless. Those experiencing depression report feeling tired, lacking in pleasure or interest in the things they care about, difficulty concentrating and trouble sleeping, among many others. Though not always, some also report suicidal thoughts. Understandably, these feelings often implicate behaviors and moods — the poor descriptor from the Victorian period raising its ugly head — like anger, restlessness, a tendency to isolate or a struggle to manage responsibilities. The list of symptoms is long, and not everyone who has depression exhibits all of those that are published by the National Institutes of Health, the Mayo Clinic, or any of other national and local agencies. Additionally, age plays a role in which symptoms are more or less pronounced, as does gender. There are a kaleidoscope of different possible symptoms — many of which everyone feels at some point or other in the course of their lives — and it makes it difficult to determine when one is momentary and another a disorder. If someone is feeling any of these symptoms for prolonged periods, they should speak to their regular medical care provider about it or call one of the local or national hotlines published with this article to discuss their specific circumstances. Taking advantage of available resources and learning more is the first step to care. To help someone who may not have recognized these symptoms for themselves, Harvard Health suggests encouraging that person to use the resources or seek help, or a softer touch might be to offer emotional support. The symptoms of anxiety — just like Cicero suggested a couple millennia ago — are not necessarily unique to those who suffer from an anxiety disorder. Most people will feel some version of what we understand anxiety to be at some point in their lives. It could be before starting a new school, prior to a test, a date or a job interview, or even when rent and other bills are due. To a certain extent, anxiety is a regular part of most lives, which makes its disorder also hard to firmly categorize and understand. The Mayo Clinic explains the disorder as an escalation of the common occurrences of anxiety. 'People with anxiety disorders frequently have intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations,' its website reads. Those symptoms show up as constant worry, elevated heart rates, fear, trouble sleeping, feeling a sense of looming issue or problems. There are also many different permutations of anxiety that also exhibit these symptoms. These issues can lead to other health issues or even depression itself. If someone is uncertain, they should also discuss the matter with their regular health care provider or one of the national hotlines. The treatment for both begins with asking questions and seeking help, no matter how certain or uncertain someone might be. Part of that seeking of help, too, can be speaking with your friends, family, clergy or teachers. The ancient Greek and Roman philosophers asked each other these bigger questions about their minds and health at the lyceum in order to reach reasonable conclusions, and it turns out that many of them are still in place. Today, we have doctors, phone and text hotlines, and our respective loved ones to seek out more and better information about anxiety and depression. The more we know, too, the less likely we are to judge or to suffer needlessly from anxiety or depression. Seneca wrote that 'there are more things … likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.' If you need help, please refer to this document for contacts that can speak over the phone or text in either moments of crisis or those who need support. You can always call or text the national Disaster Distress Hotline at 1-800-985-5990 (para Español: Llama o envía un mensaje de texto 1-800-985-5990 presiona '2.'). If you're in Utah, Huntsman Mental Health Institute lists several ways to get help for a mental health crisis: University of Utah community crisis intervention and support services: 801-587-3000. Text or call Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988. Utah Crisis Line: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Walk-in crisis center for adults: 955 W. 3300 South, South Salt Lake. Utah Warm Line: 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. 1-833-773-2588 (SPEAKUT) or 801-587-1055. For parents, teachers and educators: SAFEUT Crisis Chat & Tip Line, download the app or call 833-372-3388. For active National Guard members, their family and civilian personnel: download SafeUTNG app or call 833-372-3364 (SAFENG).
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2 days ago
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Robert Jarvik, who co-designed the first permanent artificial heart, dies at 79
Dr. Robert Jarvik, who was a key designer of the first permanent artificial heart implanted in a human, died on Monday in his Manhattan home at age 79. Jarvik received his medical degree at the University of Utah, and the implant of the first permanent artificial heart took place at the school as well. The surgery became the subject of both public fascination and fierce debate over medical ethics. According to The New York Times, Jarvik's wife, Marilyn vos Savant, said his cause of death was complications from Parkinson's disease. Jarvik was born in Midland, Michigan on May 11, 1946, and grew up in Stamford, Connecticut. His father, Norman, was a physician who ran a family practice and his mother Edythe ran scheduling at the practice, according to The New York Times. Growing up, he was a 'tinkerer' who planned to study architecture but turned his interest to medicine after his father survived an aortic aneurysm, the Times obitury said. Norman Jarvik later died of a second aortic aneurysm. Jarvik attended Syracuse University before studying medicine for two years at Italy's University of Bologna. Jarvik received a master's degree in occupational biomechanics from New York University and then moved to the University of Utah in 1971 where he completed a medical degree in 1976. Jarvik did not follow the traditional medical career path of internship and residency, because he was more interested in developing an artificial heart, per The New York Times. He married Vos Savant in 1985, who survives him. Jarvik had two children, Kate Jarvik Birch and Tyler Jarvik, from his marriage to playwright and former Deseret News journalist Elaine Levin Jarvik, to whom he was married from 1968 to 1985. Vos Savant also has two children from a previous relationship, Mary Blinder and Dennis Younglove. Jarvik had five grandchildren. Jarvik was on a team that worked with Dr. Willem Kolff, the director of the university's Division of Artificial Organs, to design a series of mechanical hearts. One of them, in 1982, was implanted in a cow named Alfred Lord Tennyson, who survived for 268 days, setting a record for an animal. It was in 1982 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave permission to the University of Utah to implant a permanent artificial heart in a human. On Dec. 2, 1982, Dr. William C. DeVries led the surgical team that implanted the Jarvik-7 model in Barney Clark, a 61-year-old retired dentist. To encourage excellent work, Kolff put a student's name on a version of the heart to which they'd made a significant alteration, which is how the heart became the Jarvik-7, as Deseret News reported. The surgery to implant the Jarvik-7, made of aluminum and plastic, lasted seven hours and afterwards Clark told his wife, 'I want to tell you even though I have no heart, I still love you,' per the University of Utah. Clark survived 112 days attached to a 400-pound air compressor — roughly the size of a dishwasher — which helped the Jarvik-7 pump blood through his body. He never left the hospital and the complications included seizures, kidney failure and a broken valve on the artificial heart. Clark died on March 23, 1983, of complications of a bacterial infection of the colon. The second and third patient lived 620 days and 488 days, respectively, after receiving the experimental heart. According to The New York Times, their survival showed that people 'could live long term on the plastic and metal device,' but that the complications the recipients suffered 'impaired the quality of their lives and blunted initial enthusiasm for the heart.' Reporters from all over flocked to University of Utah hospital to cover the artificial heart. The news was celebrated by some, criticized by others. 'By the mid-1980s, medical ethicists and theologians were debating whether artificial hearts improved life or extended a painful decline toward death,' per The New York Times. The Jarvik-7 was implanted in five patients as a permanent artificial heart and used hundreds of times as a temporary implant as patients waited for a donor heart. The FDA withdrew approval in 1990. In 2018, Jarvik was honored by United Business Media for Lifetime Achievement, according to The University of Utah. After leading Symbion, Inc., which was based in Salt Lake City, Jarvik founded Jarvik Heart, Inc. in 1987, based in New York. The company developed smaller, less obtrusive ventricular assist devices that helped pump blood from the heart's lower chambers to the rest of the body. The Jarvik 2000 is around the size of a C battery and its pediatric version, the Jarvik 2015, is about the size of a AA battery, per The New York Times.
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3 days ago
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Religion, finances and violence: Latter-day Saint leaders provide answers to key questions
This article was first published in the ChurchBeat newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Wednesday night. Latter-day Saint leaders recently released new resources providing additional transparency through answers to important questions. The information can be found in three new Gospel Topics and Questions pages on The pages on church finances, religion vs. violence and temples provide a broad look at important issues ranging from the use of tithing funds and other donations, doctrines and policies about violence and what happens inside temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here's what is new and how the information can help church members and others. A new Gospel Topics page called Church Financial Administration will be of keen interest to many people, as much for the graphics included as for the information provided. Nearly all of the financial information has been reported in the past by the Deseret News, from the fact that the church annually spends $1 billion on education to its different reserve funds where it sets aside money for future needs. The page answers 10 questions like: Do church leaders receive financial support? Answer: Yes, members of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the General Authority Seventies and the Presiding Bishopric receive a modest living allowance and insurance benefits so they can devote all their time to serving the Lord. Does the church pay taxes? Answer: Yes, the church and its affiliated entities pay various income, property, sales and value-added taxes. Why does the church spend so much on temples? Answer: Because they are houses of the Lord and the only places where people can make and receive covenants and ordinances that bind them and their families to God. So what is new in the finance Gospel Topics page? What is most visible are the new and easy to share graphics. Also, a news release that accompanied the release of the pages shared a graphic about the 19,000 locations where the church's 31,000 congregations worship each Sunday. 'The church spends hundreds of millions of dollars for meetinghouses each year,' the graphic says, representing the first time the church has provided a ballpark figure for meetinghouse costs. The news release also shared eight other graphics about church finances. A new page titled Religion vs. Violence openly discusses the Mountain Meadows Massacre ('the most tragic event in Latter-day Saint history') and blood atonement ('not a doctrine of the church'). The page poses and answers 11 questions, including: Are religious people more likely to be violent? Answer: No, 'most often, religious beliefs lead people to behave unselfishly and promote peaceful solutions to the world's problems.' How do we make sense of instances of violence in the scriptures? Answer: 'They should never be used to justify violence in the present.' The overall message of the page mirrors the peacemaking teachings of Jesus Christ, President Russell M. Nelson and others, including President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, who called violence 'a terrible and inexcusable departure from Christian teaching and conduct.' The new Gospel Topics page about temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also answers 11 questions. The page could be helpful both to church members trying to answer questions about temples, temple worship and temple ordinances and to those unfamiliar with them. It provides a good, one-stop location for information on the covenants made in temples and much more. Other questions include: Why have there been some adjustments to temple procedures and ceremonies over time? Answer: Joseph Smith made adjustments to temple ceremonies from the church's beginnings and that has continued over the 195-year history 'as prophets have sought the Lord's guidance about the best way to explain and take the blessings of the temple to the Lord's children.' How does the temple endowment ceremony compare to Masonic rituals? Answer: 'There are some similarities between the teaching style and outward forms of Masonic ritual and the endowment, the substance and purpose of the two ceremonies are completely different.' That answer includes a link to the Church History Topics page on Masonry, and such links are provided in several places in all three of the new Gospel Topics pages. 'We're a partner to the cause': Church of Jesus Christ donates to center for child abuse survivors (May 23) Elder Ronald A. Rasband dedicated the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple on Sunday. It is the first temple in the country and the church's 205th temple overall. Read the dedicatory prayer here. Elder Quentin L. Cook is on an eight-day ministry in the church's Europe North Area. In England, he said 'The Savior accomplished everything we need.' Elder Patrick Kearon joined a Catholic cardinal in ministering to parolees in the Philippines. Church leaders broke ground for the Benin City Nigeria Temple. The First Presidency announced the groundbreaking for the Vancouver Washington Temple, which isn't far from where I graduated from high school. Latter-day Saints now can choose between a mobile or printed temple recommend. The church used solar-powered desalination plants to provide clean drinking water to villages on five islands in Kiribati, with help to additional islands planned. A new sign honors the people of Quincy, Illinois, for sheltering Latter-day Saint pioneers expelled from Missouri in the winter of 1838-39. We're in the middle of a historic upheaval in sports. A new article shows how Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals are changing both the NFL and NBA, as well as college sports. Last month, only 69 underclassmen took part in the NFL Draft, down from 128 in 2021. Next month, only 106 players will be part of the NBA draft, down from 363 in 2021. More are staying in college because NIL money is more stable than draft position. While Provo, Rexburg, Laie and Salt Lake City — homes to BYU, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Hawaii and Ensign College — are all booming along with the enrollments at those schools, falling student enrollment at many public schools is busting many American towns. Demographics are part of the problem, as U.S. births peaked at 4.3 million in 2007 and have been falling almost every year since. The doors have closed at 242 institutions that issue college degrees in the past decade, according to the Hechinger Report. Also, more students are calculating that tuition prices and the opportunity cost of lost work years aren't it. The phenomenon is mostly striking regional state colleges and universities, according to the Wall Street Journal (paywall). It's pretty stats-heavy, but I enjoyed this look at whether Mike Trout or Mookie Betts is the best player of their generation.
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4 days ago
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Can Congress convince America it can get things done again?
A bipartisan group in Congress recruited Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy earlier this month to help transform the 'Abundance Agenda' into legislative action. Maloy, who represents Utah's 2nd Congressional District, became one of the first 30 lawmakers to join the Build America Caucus with the goal of removing government obstacles to housing, energy and infrastructure. The burden bureaucratic rules place on local leaders is what first drove Maloy to enter Republican politics. So when she received a phone call to launch an initiative to roll back federal overregulation — coming from a Democratic colleague — she said she 'almost drove off the road.' 'We were speaking the same language,' Maloy told the Deseret News. 'That's the kind of political alignment that doesn't always come along. And when it does, you've got to take advantage of it.' What was once a conservative talking point is now a bipartisan movement, according to Maloy, as office holders grow sick of how long it takes to get things done — and the costs of those delays are passed on to taxpayers. The group held its first meeting last week, Maloy said, to address a problem disproportionately affecting Utah: affordable housing. To help this and other sectors of the economy grow, Maloy hopes the caucus will target inefficient policies by: Forcing agencies to respond to a permitting request within a certain time frame. Requiring greater transparency about why requests are denied earlier in the process. Reducing redundant oversight between agencies. In 2024 and 2025, Maloy introduced the Full Responsibility and Expedited Enforcement (FREE) Act which would require federal agencies to replace individual review processes with quicker 'permits by rule.' Maloy said she is currently 'testing the theory' that permitting reform has bipartisan support as she lobbies Democrat lawmakers in support of her bill, which would also give agencies just 30 days to grant applications. 'Those are all things that can get easy bipartisan support,' Maloy said. 'We've reached a critical point where the problem is clear to everyone.' Around two-thirds of the Beehive State is managed by Washington, D.C., — more than any other state except Nevada. This has made many Utah projects subject to intense delays caused by federal review. The TransWest Express Transmission Line Project, an example often cited by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, would transfer power along a 730-mile path from Wyoming to Nevada, crossing the entire state of Utah from Vernal to St. George. At a recent 'Abundance Agenda policy forum," Cox said that plans for the project first crossed his desk in 2009, when he was a Sanpete County Commissioner. The plans did not receive final approval from federal agencies until 2023. During that time, nothing had changed — nothing to alter the route, or to protect wildlife, or to increase safety, Cox said. The only thing that had changed was the cost of the project, which had tripled. 'If you're taking 14 years or 15 years to just get approvals to build something, then we are broken,' Cox said at the event last week. 'When I say we've become really stupid this is what I'm talking about. That should never happen.' The first executive order of Cox's second term sought to streamline the state permitting process by allowing projects to be reviewed under more general standards and by allowing plants to update their facilities without having to undergo a new review. This policy was then made permanent in a largely bipartisan vote. State Rep. Tyler Clancy, R-Provo, who sponsored the companion legislation, HB85, said this is an example of 'abundance' in action, where a non-zero-sum mindset has made it easier to build. 'There are opportunities for us to improve the permitting process without weakening environmental regulations,' Clancy said. 'We can build better, more efficiently without sacrificing the robust standards that we have.' But there is only so much the state can do. The main roadblocks to large infrastructure projects 'are federal in nature,' according to Thomas Hochman, the director of infrastructure policy at the Foundation for American Innovation. And there is no worse offender, Hochman said, than the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA — a law enacted in 1969 that requires projects to undergo a review by federal agencies that routinely take 3-5 years, and sometimes longer. The lags imposed by NEPA have produced counterproductive results that often hurt the environmental features the law was meant to protect, Hochman said. One example where this has happened is in the case of the U.S. Forest Service attempting to make wildfire protection plans, Hochman said. But in many cases before the plans are approved, major wildfires have already swept through the area. 'A lot of these so-called environmental laws, end up getting in the way of the environmental protection that they aim to ensure in the first place,' Hochman said. 'Stories like that are the sorts of things that I hope this caucus focuses on.' While an overhaul to NEPA is unlikely, Hochman said there are smaller permitting reforms that the Build America Caucus can include in infrastructure bills that eliminate unnecessary steps in the process. Making these moves at the federal level will do more than speed up projects — it will begin rebuilding Americans' confidence that they live in a country that can actually get things done, according to Chris Koopman, CEO of the Utah-based Abundance Institute. While President Donald Trump's flurry of executive orders has 'completely changed the conversation' on streamlining government regulations, Koopman said, Congress needs to take action to make the change in trajectory permanent. 'It's the difference between a patch and a solution,' Koopman said. 'If we want to see this for the long run, it has to be a bipartisan effort so it can survive the shifting politics of each point in time.' Over the past several decades, the United States has chosen 'paperwork over progress,' Koopman said, with NEPA representing 'the single greatest procedural barrier to American progress.' Reforming federal regulations to encourage innovation will allow the public and private sectors to raise up the skyscrapers, dams and technologies that made America great, and in doing so, will rebuild faith in U.S. institutions, Koopman said. 'That's where I think the bipartisan Build America Caucus is really going to play a key role here is being a voice within the halls saying, 'It's time to build again,'' Koopman said.
